Randy

Hey Jeff...The answer I would give is one of two possibilities...You can buy some animatronics (and the good ones cost quite a bit), or if you build it yourself, be prepared to spend a LOT of time on them...You'll need to have some good skills in welding, some woodworking, working with fabrics for the costume, some electronics experience for the servo control, etc. We have built two (a snowman and a snow woman) and each one took MONTHS...Very time consuming... Here's a description of the process we used to build our snowman two years ago. Since then we've built a nice snow woman, but I haven't posted the photos and story yet (it would be similar anyways).... http://www.belardolights.com/snowman.html See what you think.... Randy

Our tree has 128 strings total, 32 strings of Red, Green, Blue, and Warm White; 16 channels for each color with two strings of each color per channel. The Red and White lights are wrapped in one direction, and the Blue and Green Lights are wrapped in the other direction. I think it turned out pretty nice...Here's a photo...

What level of LOR license do you have for the software?

Good link, thanks. When I built some custom length LED strings with a full wave rectifer and dropping resistor, I found that I had to do some actual measurements to get things right. First thing I would do is cut into a good working string of the LEDs I was going to use and measure the current (because I want my new string to match that current). It might be 15ma, for example. Then I would wire up the full-wave rectifer and the number of LEDs and use a resistance substitution box to calculate the exact value of resistance that would provide 15ma of current flow. Then I would usually build up that value of resistance by paralleling 4 one watt resistors. Everything worked great, and the strings dim great with LOR. But your link is a good starting point. Sometimes it's hard to know what the forward voltage is on certain LEDs.... Thanks, Randy

Dave, My experience is that different states have different taxes. Some have no income tax, some have no sales tax, but in the end, they just get you with higher amounts of the other taxes that you do pay. I work with a person from Florida (where there is no personal income tax), but my friend's propery tax is about triple what I pay on my house here in California. Is your experience different?

Action Lighting has sold me a few short pieces of colored ropelight for repair at a modest price plus shipping....They also have splice kits as well...

Whoops, sorry, guess I didn't realize about the food (it's been so good in the past, too!)...Honestly, I'm okay with throwing in some more $$$ for food because it will save time and we won't all have to run out and drive around to grab something...Maybe you can make it an optional line item on the registration and people can pay a little extra for lunches....I know I would rather than spend an hour driving to get something.... But, food or not, I'm there..... Randy

I've attended the last two Academys, and they were great...But now, with the addition of the DIY material / classes from RJ and his team, should make next year's Academy an unbeatable combination...I registered early and am definitely planning on attending...It's a great value, and you can't beat the price, especially with the meals thrown in... You can't go wrong by attending next year's Academy.... Randy

I'd buy a set of those...No fancy animation, just some pumpkin faces....My son would enjoy stuffing them... Randy

Are the plugs the same size as your wire (SPT1 vs. SPT2)? It sounds like you could be putting a larger wire into a smaller plug and forcing the top on? Randy

I've heard of 6 volt bulbs (20 per string in series for a 120v connection), but not 5 volt bulbs. How many are on a string? Novelty Lights sells strings of 20 clear lights with 2 spare bulbs...These are 6 volt bulbs... http://www.noveltylights.com/20-Light-White-Wire-Christmas-Mini-Lights.html

Some of it is just trial and error to see what you like. For me, I try to keep the lights between 0.7" and 1". My biggest coro tip: Make sure that you don't get too many lights too close together in a tight area like a face, etc. or else they will look like a light blob without too much detail...Less detail (and lights) is better... My website has some additional information.... http://www.belardolights.com/talking_heads_20.html

Try opening an affected sequence, and then pulling down the "View" menu, then choose "waveform" and then "Full height". I've seen cases where this made the timing grid pop back to normal.... Randy

Payment has been made, so this equipment is now officially sold... Thanks to everyone for your interest... Randy

These units are currently on reserve awaiting payment.... Thanks, Randy